HR and the City: Understanding why employees look for a new role

There is no denying having a job is now intrinsic to modern existence. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has stated work has obvious economic benefits, but having a job also helps individuals stay connected with society, build self-esteem, and develop skills and competencies.

In the UK, a larger than average proportion of the adult population is employed (73%), whereas the global average is 68%. Companies benefit greatly from a stable and happy workforce so when we created theAlgoMe Career Satisfaction Benchmark Report, we wanted to find out why people in our sector would leave their jobs and look for another one.

What are the Triggers?

The AlgoMe Career Satisfaction Benchmark Survey has identified a number of triggers which move people into job seeking mode; these span three areas which are personal reasons, industry drivers and company climate. These triggers should be on the radar of management who want to retain the best talent.

The statistics breakdown as follows:

40% are motivated personally to look for a new role by a change in career direction

25% are driven by industry reputation or kudos

33% by the climate of culture change within their organisation

How to manage staff turnover

It is important for HR and management to develop contingency measures to keep teams stable and reduce churn. One route is to open up an ongoing dialogue which helps judge the mood of the company and attitudes towards change and reputation. Managers and HR professionals can use exit surveys or staff attitude to help them understand why people leave businesses. However, this is generally a case of too little too late – anticipating movement is far better than post-rationalisation.

There are many reasons why people leave a company which creates a complex landscape to navigate but it’s possible to manage well. By being aware of these trigger moments earlier, management can concentrate on strategies which help stabilise people and keep them within the company.

For example, in an individual case, if someone has managed to develop their skillset within your company, that makes them much more valuable to the organisation and elsewhere. A proactive strategy to keep this person loyal would be to recognise their ambition and find them a new role to help them advance. This is a much more attractive option than having to replace them when they leave which means losing both their accrued knowledge of the organisation and the company investment into the individual.

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Our picks

With the decorations up, the last order date for Amazon nigh and most of us looking forward to at least a few days break, it’s always a good time to take stock of what’s been achieved over the last 12 months.

For AlgoMe this has been another exciting year.

January started in style with the launch of the AlgoMe Careers mobile app – giving professionals the opportunity to find their next career opportunity on the move.

Then in July we released our Industry Pulse Report – a check on what the industry was thinking about key topics such as Brexit, Pay Gap Reporting, MiFiD II and GDPR. Unfortunately it seems that the uncertainty that the industry was feeling due to Brexit is unlikely to have receded in the intervening period, but it’s good to see progress starting to be made in other areas such as gender and diversity.

In September we launched AlgoMe Community – a place for the Investment / Asset Management industry to come together, providing professionals with ways to grow their knowledge, profile and network. We’d like to say a big thank you to all of the members that have joined and contributed and look forward to continuing growth in 2019.

In November AlgoMe joined the Investment Association, becoming a Fintech member and working closely with Velocity, the Association’s new Fintech accelerator. This is a really exciting initiative and we’re looking forward to doing more with Velocity in the near future.

We also launched our Mentoring matching service in November – designed to help AlgoMe Community members connect with the best individuals within the community to help them to reach their career goals using a simple but intelligent process. If you haven’t already signed up to be a mentor or a mentee, please do spend 5 minutes now and tick off a New Year’s Resolution early.

As we go into the end of the year, we have also launched our survey on Investment Management, Fintech and the future of careers. The impact of Fintech on the industry is going to accelerate rapidly in 2019, but what has been less well documented is the impact on individuals, their careers and the skills they’ll need to succeed in a more digitised environment. We really value the input of our community members, so please spend a couple of minutes filling out the survey and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear the results early next year.

From me and the AlgoMe team, I wish you all a very happy holiday season and look forward to another year of exciting announcements and change in 2019.

Rob

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I have always struggled to see a fair reason why employers should be allowed to ask about a potential hire’s current remuneration, other than to give them an advantage in pay negotiations.
It’s something which can only exacerbate existing pay inequalities and it’s abolishment can surely only be a positive thing.
Here the Guardian argues specifically about its impact with regards to the gender pay gap:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/23/gender-pay-gap-current-salary-question
I believe this has already been outlawed in some US states?
@Jonathan Max - would be interesting to hear the view from HR.

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The Investment Association recently gave the industry a boost when it announced the launch of Velocity, its FinTech accelerator. Designed to identify, develop and accelerate best in class firms with innovative solutions, Velocity will champion and facilitate the wider adoption of technology across the industry.

And AlgoMe will be involved in this too, which is why I’m excited to announce we are now a member organisation of the Investment Association as an official FinTech member and have been named a "company to watch" by Velocity.

Challenging Times
The Investment Management industry faces major challenges and opportunities from forces such as digital technology, pressure on fees and increased regulation, while at the same time there are widespread changes in the workforce and their expectations.

To date, Investment Management has both been fairly insulated from the challenges posed by agile FinTech competitors, but also distant from the opportunities offered by the new technologies and ways of thinking that such companies bring.

Bringing FinTech closer
Velocity is a fantastic step towards accelerating the adoption of FinTech. It has received support and endorsements from both inside and outside the industry, including from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, who was enthusiastic about the initiative at a recent City event.

To drive change and innovation, the industry needs to connect across different disciplines and areas of expertise, driving new ways of thinking and fostering cultural change.

Without the benefit of emerging FinTechs and their external expertise, it will be hard for incumbents to harness the benefits of emerging technologies such as Straight Through deal Processing (STP), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas such as risk and compliance, securities trading and investment decision making.

Our Mission
AlgoMe's mission is to connect the Investment Management industry and empower professionals to manage their careers. Our new product, AlgoMe Community, is placed to become the hub for the discussion between FinTechs and the companies and professionals in the wider Investment Management ecosystem.

Related Content

The adoption of FinTech will bring significant changes for the future of Investment Management - from which products are offered to clients and how they are delivered, to the overall structure of the Industry itself. This level of disruption will also impact the future careers of the individuals working in or entering the Industry today.

According to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), there are 610,000 professionals employed directly or indirectly across Europe in the Investment Management ecosystem, with over 100,000 in the UK. Which of these roles could disappear over the next couple of years, where are the opportunities and how should you navigate the disruption?

In our latest report, The Disrupted Career: FinTech, Innovation and the Future of Careers in Investment Management, we explore how FinTech is changing careers across the industry, and how professionals are being impacted by and are responding to these changes.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

Disrupted Career Paths

Our report found that very few areas within Investment Management will not be impacted by technological change; the career paths of the future will be radically different.

Professionals will need to embrace a more flexible approach to career planning. In addition, future job growth and progression opportunities will be concentrated in FinTech and in roles driving innovation in existing Investment Management functions.

Will We All Be Coders?

Many professionals will need to develop more technical skills, and not just in traditional technology roles. Even where ‘hard’ skills around coding, AI and data science will not be important, there will be an expectation that professionals will have a more holistic view of how technology underpins the business.

However, this will not negate the importance of soft skills, and blending skill-sets will be critical for the most successful teams and individuals.

With the industry expecting strong growth with a target of doubling of AUM over the next decade, those who position themselves to embrace the coming changes can look forward exciting opportunities.

Welcome To The AlgoMe Report On FinTech, Innovation And The Future Of Careers In Investment Management

This report aims to address key questions that are important to everyone working in or looking to join the Investment Management Industry.

How significant will the impact of FinTech be on career paths?
How likely is my current role to be affected?
Where are the opportunities in this disruption?
How can I best position myself for future success?
We asked a panel of Investment Industry professionals their views.

The full report is available for download to all AlgoMe Community members. Not already joined? Becoming a member takes less than a minute.

Brexit, MiFID II, GDPR, Gender Pay Gap and Diversity are the themes we consider top of mind currently which is why we’ve created the Summer 2018 AlgoMe Industry Pulse Report.

We wanted to get under the skin of some of these key events and burning issues for 2018. In doing so, we revealed some very interesting results and statistics.

Given a choice of 7 cities, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam are the top three choices for Asset Managers, Fintech and Financial Services employees to relocate to following Brexit. While 54% would not consider moving as a result of Brexit.

When it comes to regulation; we are not surprised to find MiFID II and GDPR will affect over 60% of the roles in the industry.
Positively, 59% believe Gender Pay Gap Reporting will improve the career progression of women.

Please read the report for the full information and do get in touch if you would like to know more about your industry workforce.

Hustling. Inspiring people with your vision. Convincing people to work for free. Motivating groups of freelancers or volunteers who may not have any long-term obligations to you.

Such people issues are a constant feature of startup life.

At the April event, spend 30 minutes learning from two founders, Allie Fleder and Rob Curtis. They will share leadership tips that will help you convince others to help you out. Facilitated networking with fellow LGBTQ startup people will follow, along with drinks and snacks.

Series Q be at the newly revamped Google Campus next Wednesday 10th April from 6:30pm for a 7pm start.

Buy tickets in
Series Q: People Power
WWW.EVENTBRITE.CO.UK
Hustling. Inspiring people with your vision. Convincing people to work for free. Motivating groups of freelancers or volunteers who may not have any long-term obligations to you. Such people issues are a constant feature...

Following our successful event at Cass Business School in January, AlgoMe is teaming up with another of Europe's leading higher and executive education institutions with a panel discussion at Imperial College Business School on 3rd April.

We will be joined by another panel of industry leaders to discuss the impact that the FinTech revolution is having on the demand for skills in the Investment Management industry and what individuals looking to enter or progress careers in the industry can do to help them succeed.

Attendance is open to students and alumni of Imperial College Business School, and we will be sharing highlights of the discussion with the AlgoMe Community.

If you have any questions that you would like to be put to the panel, please comment below, or send them to us via our other social media channels.
twitter: @thisisalgome
linkedin: algome

Panelists

Ben Lucas
Ben is a Partner within the UK Wealth & Asset Management practice at EY. Prior to joining EY, he was a Practice Lead for Alternatives within Alpha Financial Management Consulting. Ben previously worked for EY as a Management Consultant and also for Zurich Financial Services. Ben has extensive experience across the Financial Services industry, with a particular focus on Asset Management and Alternative Investment. He has worked in senior strategy, advisory and change management roles based variously in London, New York and Paris.

Henrik Grunditz
Henrik is a co-founder and the Chief Revenue Officer of Hivemind. Prior to co-founding Hivemind, Henrik was a senior vice president at Winton Group, a large quantitative hedge fund where he was responsible for business development with institutional investors in Europe. Prior to joining Winton in 2013, Henrik spent 5 years at MSCI / RiskMetrics where he was responsible for developing the multi-asset risk analytics business across various client segments in Europe. Henrik started his career in management consulting, working in Accenture’s Capital Markets practice. Henrik holds a First Class Master’s degree in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College London. At the end of 2018, Hivemind was just one of five companies selected for the inaugural cohort of Velocity, a FinTech accelerator programme run by the Investment Association (IA)

Dr Ruben Lara
Ruben is Chief Data Officer at Standard Life Aberdeen. Prior to joining Standard Life Aberdeen in 2016, Dr. Lara held senior positions at Vodafone, where he was Head of Big Data Analytics, and at Telefonica, where he was Head of Big Data Product Development and Innovation. Ruben started his career in financial services, working as a technology consultant specialised in data and analytics. Ruben holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and has received the First National Award in Computer Science from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education and sits on the advisory panel of Velocity.

Rob Carter
Rob is co-founder of AlgoMe and is an experienced Front Office change consultant with a diverse skill-set built during almost 15 years of working in Financial Services. Rob has worked across the complete project delivery lifecycle over a range of Investment Management and regulatory focussed initiatives; including, leading investment integration work streams of mergers between a number of major asset managers. He was formerly Head of Fixed Income and Equities Platforms at Aberdeen Asset Management and is a CFA Charterholder.